The couple were traveling from Galva, Kan., to Boscobel, Wis., for their son's wedding. The weather, according to Rick, was 80 degrees -- perfect for their motorcycle trip. In Dubuque, Iowa, Rick steered the motorcycle onto one of the highway's off-ramps. Then, everything went black. The Bryants never made it to their son's wedding.

Greg Tammen

Rick and Tammie Bryant remember the morning of June 13 well; after all, they have had to relive it every day.

The couple were traveling from Galva to Boscobel, Wis., for their son's wedding. The weather, according to Rick, was 80 degrees -- perfect for their motorcycle trip. In Dubuque, Iowa, Rick steered the motorcycle onto one of the highway's off-ramps. Then, everything went black. The Bryants never made it to their son's wedding.

“I remember waking up and watching the cars drive by a few feet from where I was,” Tammie said. “Then there were some people's shadows that were blocking out the sun. One person kept talking to me to make sure I was coherent. They lifted me off the tar because it was burning me. I looked over and saw Rick there bleeding. I knew CPR so I was going to go over to help, but I couldn't get to him. I couldn't move my legs.”

Before EMS workers were able to help Tammie, they had to pry her free from the gummy tar which adhered her body to the road. It would be several days later before Tammie learned that the tar and loose gravel that had clung to her and the motorcycle had recently been laid by Iowa road workers.

No warning sign or traffic cones had been set up to let travelers know of the recent road work, which was still in the process of drying.

Nine days after the crash, Rick remembers waking up in Dubuque's Mercy Medical Hospital. For him, the accident is like a frame that was removed from the motion picture of his life. Although he has no memory of it, it has continued to haunt both he and Tammie ever since regaining consciousness.

“When we hit the tar, the bike went squirrely. The only thing that I can put together is that the wheel hit the freshly filled hole and got stuck in the tar,” Rick said of the accident.

Tammie, who was thrown 30 feet from the bike, fractured a rib, broke her right forearm, was so bruised she could not walk for almost a week,and obtained multiple skin abrasions through her leather clothing.

Rick wasn't as lucky.

He, too, still has scars from the skin abrasions and tar embedded into parts of his skin.

Unlike Tammie, though, who was thrown onto the road, he was thrown 50 feet into a concrete guardrail, crushing the left side of his jaw, fracturing three ribs, sustaining two brain contusions, and breaking his neck, which now requires him to wear a plastic brace.

Due to their injuries, the Bryants lost their jobs. Tammie said she was fired because she was unable to complete her duties with a broken arm. Rick, who had started a business educating truck drivers, was forced to sell his truck after the wreck and not being able to drive.

“It still smelled like new,” he said, his voice catching in his throat.

On doctor's orders, Tammie was asked to stay home and look after Rick, who requires contrast supervision. Unable to live without any source of revenue, Tammie works part-time as a night auditor for a local hotel.

The Bryants said it has been difficult to adapt to their limited income, as they have to rely heavily on food stamps from SRS, and donations from members of Countryside Covenant and the American Legion. Unable to pay their gas bill, they use a camp stove to cook and heat bath water.

Before their accident, the Bryants were in the process of paying off a mobile home they are purchasing from a private seller through Advantage Realty. With their final payment set for February, they were excited about owning their house. Now, left with only enough money for necessities like gasoline, doctor's bills, physical therapy and food, the Bryants have been told they will soon lose their home too, unless they can pay the rest of the money owed.

“I just don't want to lose my home,” Tammie said. “It's almost ours!”

Rick promised Tammie that after she lost her house in California, he would never let it happen again.

“This is the part that really tears me up ... because now I feel helpless to do anything,” he said, his face turning red. Overcome with a sense of guilt, he began to cry heavily, even after Tammie offered her hand in comfort.

“I've had friends that lost their lives in biking accidents,” Rick said, his eyes still watery. “I'm not suicidal, but sometimes I can't stop thinking that sometimes what happened to them was better than what happened to us. But I believe they're out there roaming free.”

As luck would have it, Tuesday morning the Bryants were notified that the legal attorney in Salina who was handling their case had dropped them, because Tammie's part-time job at the hotel provided them with too much income to qualify for disability and medical services with SRS. The Bryants have added this letter to their tragic scrapbook of Iowa hospital bills and the letters from the Canton Community Clinic and Wichita neurosurgeons advising them to continue the much needed care they are unable to pay for.

Rick, a veteran, finds it shocking that in a country he volunteered to serve and protect in its times of crisis cannot do the same for he and his wife in theirs.

“It just seems like there's no chance, no light,” he said. “People who really need this help have to go through all this crud.”

Through all the misfortune, there have been flickers of light in the otherwise bleak horizon.

Three weeks ago, Rick got a call on his pay-per-minute cell phone from one of his brothers. An anonymous person had paid a mechanic the $550 needed to repair their old Dodge Ram Charger so he and Tammie could drive to physical therapy and essential doctor's visits.

“Tammie and I started crying when we found out someone had done this for us,” Rick said. “May God bless them.”

Countryside Covenant Church has provided the couple gas cards, and the McPherson American Legion recently paid the private seller $220 owed toward their mobile home.

On Wednesdays, Rick volunteers at Countryside Covenant with their youth program, Side-By-Side Student Ministries. He said he enjoys interacting with the youth and momentarily forgetting about the position he and Tammie are in.

Because of the toll the accident has taken on the Bryants' lives, Rick has promised himself that when he comes out of it, he will form an organization to help fellow motorcyclists who are in a similar situations.

For now though, the Bryants live day-to-day, uncertain of their future, but thankful for small miracles like a stranger's generosity and the possibility that they may one day wake up, and find their lives anew.